5 A Charming Magic (10 page)

I glanced in the spa and Chandra was hunkered over some woman’s hand rubbing lotion all over it and her mouth was running a mile a minute. Little did the woman realize Chandra was a palm reader and being a manicurist was her cover. Women from all over loved to come get their nails done by Chandra. She would tell them things that were going to happen in their future or give them unsolicited advice, with them never knowing she was reading their palm.

Once some of the advice came true for them, they would come back for more. That was the best part of Whispering Falls. All the visitors felt the magic, only they couldn’t put their fingers on it, making them come back over and over again.

The instant smell of animals hit me when I pushed the heavy electric-blue wood door open to the pet shop. It had wavy yellow metal detailing that resembled the branches of a tree.

There wasn’t anything normal about Glorybee. I wasn’t sure, but I swear I saw a hedgehog run and then roll across the grassy floor over to the real life tree that stood in the corner of the room. A bird skimmed the top of my head and landed on a branch next to a grey squirrel.

Petunia Shrubwood was standing near the full grown maple. Her hand was flailing in the air going down the line of people looking at her ring.
My ring.

The squirrel jumped from the lower branch and onto Petunia’s shoulder. He too was getting a good look at the shiner.

“Petunia Regiula,” she said her new name, pride dripping all over her face. There wasn’t any hesitation in her voice. “Petunia Regiula.”

She glanced over at me and waved.

I held the jar in the air and waved it around so it would make her rush over and I didn’t have to fight the crowd or continue to hear all the details of her new happiness that secretly made me nauseous.

“Thank you so much June.” Petunia grabbed the jar and held it up to the light. The spiders stayed at the top of the cheese cloth lid desperately trying to get out.

The lady who had gotten her daughter the fancy fertility potion was in the back of Glorybee looking at the firefly kits. She smiled and drummed her fingers in the air while mouthing hello.

My soul grinned. I could picture her daughter and grandchild playing in a back yard full of fireflies. Especially ones that never died.

The firefly kits Petunia sells were special. Fireflies were the teenagers that have passed, like most of the animals in Glorybee. When a spiritual soul passed to the afterlife, some could come back in the form of animals and the fireflies were always teenagers.

It was a perfect fit for them. Teenagers sleep all day, like fireflies and fireflies are up all night, just like teenagers. And the afterlife animals stayed alive making good on the earth and with the people they love.

Little did the woman know that if she did purchase the kit, she would be blessed with fireflies all year around. There really was nothing more beautiful than a starry black night with the light of the tiny creatures—and any child would love that. The warm glow of being able to help someone made me feel good inside.

 “Do you know her?” Petunia asked.

“She is a customer.” I turned my attention to my happy friend. Even though I was a little envious, I was happy for her. “You said you wanted spiders, I brought you spiders.”

“Thank you.” She kissed the jar before she hugged it to her chest. “Best present ever.” She grabbed me and hugged me. “Did you see my ring?” She thrust her left hand up to my face.

“Yes. Earlier.” I smiled and looked again. I took a step back so her hand wasn’t blurred and it could come into focus.

“I know you did. But I still can’t believe it!” Petunia gushed. “You won’t believe the flowers Arabella suggested. Not only is she beautiful, she’s smart.”

“Beautiful and smart.”
Meh
. I barely took a glance at the ring before I started with my questions. “Have you seen Mr. Prince Charming?”

“Is that silly cat missing again?” she asked. It wasn’t unusual for him to run off and come over to hang out in the tree. It was a cool tree. If I worked at Glorybee, I’d probably hang a swing from a branch and swing all day.

“He has been doing some strange things like eating a lot.”

Petunia’s eyes grew big. “What exactly do you mean?” She took me by the elbow and walked me to the back of the store out of the way of the customers. “I need every detail.”

“So he hasn’t been here and you know?” I waved my hand around her head. She knew I was asking if she had somehow used her spiritual gift to talk to him.

“No. He hasn’t.” She shook her head. A few dried leaves fell out and tumbled to the ground. She looked down. “Oh dear.”

For the first time since the big proposal, Petunia didn’t have a happy bride-to-be smile planted across her face.

“What?” I asked and watched her pick up the crispy brown leaves.

“This is not good, June Heal.” She pushed her hands in her hair making more dried leaves, brown berries—that I was sure were supposed to be a color—and some brittle sticks fall out the other side. “Things are dying.”

“Dying?”

She held the jar up to the light. Sure enough, the spiders in the jar were no longer crawling all over the cheese cloth lid. They were lying dead at the bottom.

Chapter Eleven

“This is not good, this is not good.” Petunia marched around her shop, ushering all of the customers out the door. “I’m closed for the rest of the day,” she told them and pushed them out.

“Trouble in paradise,” Madame Torres chirped from deep within my bag. “History will always catch up to you.” There was a little too much pleasure in her voice. I tucked my bag up under my arm so Petunia wouldn’t hear her and get even more freaked out.

“Petunia, what about Mr. Prince Charming?” I asked.

“Not good.” She shook her head and more dried things that I couldn’t even tell what they were fell out and to the ground in piles as she walked. “None of this is good. You go and get ready for the meeting and be sure to bring materials for an impromptu smudging ceremony.” She barked orders at me as she took scoops of food and put them in bowls all over the shop.

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked her. The color in her face had turned ashen.

She ran around the shop putting things on not only the wrong shelves, but in the wrong aisles as well. Her normal routine before closing was brushing the animals, bathing if needed, and pretty much hand feeding them before she even thought about going to the back of the shop to her apartment. Not today. She was worried.

“Go!” Her eyes were wide open and she flung her hands in the air. “What are you waiting for?”

“I sort of wanted to know what is not good and what is wrong with Mr. Prince Charming.” The answers I had come to seek weren’t answered. “Is all of this tied together?”

Petunia stopped. Her grey face now had a frightened tight jaw. The lines between her eyes creased when she furrowed her brows.

“Please tell me,” I begged to know. Even though I was the Village President, I didn’t know everything about the spiritual world or what the spiritualist was capable of. They had lived here all their lives and I had only been here a year and only President for a few short months so I couldn’t possibly know every single detail of the spiritual life. Only what I was living.

“I’m relying on all of you to tell me what is going on.” I ran my hands down her arm.

“I can’t be so sure I can trust you.” She stood stoic, not moving. Her stone cold eyes sent chills up my spine.

“Do you think I’m the enemy?” I questioned her. “I’m here to help.”

“If you are here to help and you are my friend,” she drew in a deep breath, “you would be happy for me. But you haven’t been. And all of these things, dead spiders, dried leaves, and a hungry cat are all bad omens for an upcoming wedding.”

“Oh,” I laughed. “You can’t possibly believe in superstition?” That was the silliest thing I had heard. “We are Good-Sider spiritualists. We wave off the bad juju.”

Gently I reminded her about the two spiritual sides.  There are Good-Sider and Dark-Sider spiritualists. Good-Siders only seek the good in the spiritual world and see the good in the customers seeking guidance. Which meant there was no way I was going to deliver bad news to anyone seeking a cure that came into my store. There was always a positive side to everything. Plus we held the secret to the
Ultimate Spell
. A secret spell that would allow the Dark-Siders to take over.

Not all Dark-Siders are bad. And when I took over as Village President, I didn’t like the fact Whispering Falls was only a Good-Sider village. I changed the law, allowing all spiritualists to come, live, and own a shop.

The only Dark-Siders in our village were Eloise and Raven, both very nice and neither had a bad bone in their body. But Arabella? There was little I knew about her. Was that her problem? Was she the one stirring the pot in all of this mess?

“That is the one thing I can’t stand about you June Heal!” Petunia opened the heavy front door and held it for me. “You should have never been appointed Village President. You know nothing about the spiritual world. Everything is not always fixed with a little potion. I thought you’d figured that out by now since you can’t seem to make Oscar Park fall back in love with you.”

“Now who is jealous?” Madame Torres’s light was glowing from the bag.

“Petunia,” I had never heard such ugly things come out of her mouth. “Leave Oscar out of this. This is about you and why you think the world is about to come to an end.”

“It is! It’s my world that is coming to an end.” Petunia pushed me out the door. I looked at her.

“How do dead leaves symbolize your life coming to an end? Or Mr. Prince Charming becoming a fatty in his old age?” I tried to make light of the situation as much as possible. This was not what I had intended to happen when I had gone over there. Besides, this was what I did. I made everyone feel better during a time of crisis while I figured out how to end the crisis so no one’s life would be interrupted.

“Because she is old.” Madame Torres was having too much fun at the expense of Petunia’s issues.

“June.” Petunia planted her hands on her hips. “These are all signs of death of an engagement. I’m the only one engaged.”

Instantly I felt so happy that I wasn’t. 

“We can forget all of that. I’m going to have your shower and show you how everyone is happy for you and supports you.” I gulped. “I will do a special smudge tonight before the Village meeting.”

“You will?” There was a little relief in her voice.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“Still.” She dropped her hands to her side. “I have to tell Gerald about all of the signs.”

“Okay.” I smiled knowing it was not good that she see Gerald.

After all, Gerald was walking toward us like a zombie.

“Gerald, Gerald?” Petunia waved her hand in front of him when he walked past her. His hat was not on top of his head, which I believed only happened when he slept. He was never without the hat. And his mustache was protruding in all different directions. He certainly wasn’t the dapper fellow we were used to seeing. “Are you okay?”

Hrmph.
Gerald cleared his throat before he came to an abrupt stop. “I…” He turned around. An element of fear showed on his face. “I..,” he paused, “I was just coming to see my lovely bride-to-be.”

When he took her into his arms, he looked at me over her shoulders. His brows lowered and he pursed his lips into a silent
shhh
and slowly shook his head.

“Gerald,” Petunia pulled away and slightly turned to me. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea to get married as soon as possible?”

“She’s scared of losing him,” Madame Torres said from the bottom of the bag. I tried to muffle her as she talked because Gerald had a better trained ear than Petunia and I didn’t want him to know she was giving her crystal ball opinion.

Petunia turned around, there was a deep worry set in her eyes. I didn’t know if she was responding to what Madame Torres had said.

All these weird signs were coming to light. Flowers were being delivered, which had to do with Arabella. Arabella was taking secretively to Gerald and making the moves on Oscar. I knew that Petunia had dried leaves and crap falling out of her hair, which happened when things die—they shrivel up. The spiders were now curled up in a tiny balls dead at the bottom of the jar. And I knew that Mr. Prince Charming needed to see a veterinarian because he was going to eat me out of house and home before he started on the cicada population. Who knew what was next on his menu.

“I think we should let June have your bridal shower and keep things as planned.” He looked at me and so did Petunia. “Don’t you, June?”

Petunia’s eyes grew big like she was saying
oh no you better not agree with him.

“You two leave me out of it.” I put my hands in front of me. I still had to find my cat and this was not something to get in the middle of. I had my own problems. “You two are the ones who are getting married. I’m just the host of the party.”

“Arabella is already getting the flowers together,” Petunia told him. “We need to have it ASAP. Why wait?”

I walked between them and stopped.

“When you decide, let me know. But I’m going to go on with my plans of having your shower in a couple of days.”

I walked off without giving them another opportunity to have me referee the argument between the two of them when neither of them had given good reasons to support their side. It was all a bit confusing to me. The ever-so-happy, newly-engaged couple stood on Main Street fighting where they had only stood hours ago getting engaged.

Chapter Twelve

Petunia was able to read animals, not predict the future. The dying spiders, the twigs in her hair, and the color draining from her face were sure signs that something was going on.

I left her and Gerald to work out their differences on when the wedding was going to take place, but not before she made me promise to have the shower tomorrow.

Tomorrow
.

The grey sky fit my mood, leaving me less than motivated to bring all things—something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue—together in less than twenty-four hours.